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Transpired Ruben Amorim could survive defeat by lower-league opposition. Survive an important European final versus a particularly poor Spurs sides in living memory. He withstood losing at home to West Ham and Wolves, finishing 15th, an unwavering system, laying waste to the team's most promising academy products, a poor winning percentage, labeling his team the poorest the club has ever seen. But there was one adversary against whom Ruben Amorim was not permitted to dance. You come at Jason Wilcox, and you best not miss.

Regrettably, like many a Premiership right-back during Blackburn Rovers' title-winning 1994-95 season, the coach came at Jason Wilcox and seems to have missed. Even the most casual observer can see the paradoxical situation: a manager who frequently berated at his players for failing in individual battles crumbling when confronted by the white heat and formidable presence of a England's top division's most feared football executives.

In truth, this entire painful saga appears to portray the director in a different perspective. Perhaps it might have been tempting, based on his nine months in a similar role at Southampton, to view Jason Wilcox as merely a drudge within the club's structure: a man who owed his position largely to his friendship with his former boss a fellow executive as any demonstrable skill. How mistaken we all were. In brilliantly outsmarting the club's celebrated manager, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate Dan Ashworth before him, he has proved himself to be among the sport’s strategic masterminds: a tactical intellect that the club's competitors will now be justifiably concerned.

The Tactical Clash Regarding System and Ideology

For example, this was the director who having been part of the leadership that appointed the rigid 3-4-3 advocate Amorim originally, played a key role in trying to persuade Amorim to ditch his beloved 3-4-3. Naturally, these pleas met a certain resistance. However, such directives hold greater authority when issued from the mouth of a man the unimpeachable football pedigree of Jason Wilcox, a veteran of international appearances and a role in a championship team decades past.

Perhaps in time he may be persuaded to outline his reasoning to the rest of us. Maybe one day questions may arise why Amorim is departing with full compensation, with no compensation reduction clause activated. The director speaks rarely in public, and with very good reason. The true intellectuals of this sport – individuals such as Jason Wilcox – simply operate at a level exceeding our mundane comprehension. If he ever did speak, probably all we would hear is a series of high-frequency signals and four-dimensional whirring. Wanting is not quite equivalent to being ready to comprehend it.

An Supreme Power Behind the Throne

But of course, by focusing our attention on Jason Wilcox we overlook the true genius behind the club's current leadership. Jason Wilcox is, in reality, simply carrying out the directives of his ultimate line manager the billionaire owner, who in private has emphasized his preference for a back four. It is reported, the owner has also proposed playing Bryan Mbeumo in a wing-back role. Ratcliffe is keen for United to adopt data science and metrics. Per reports, in an executive meeting early in his investment, he announced that the team's approach of play “shall be decided by this group”.

After all, Ratcliffe is a specialist in this technical footballing stuff, leveraging his background in industry and yachting. Above all he remains incredibly rich, and it is known, the wealthy are superior: more insightful, more wise, more tactically astute, simply better. Whom else could one trust to oversee a strategic plan of austerity, the building of a modern arena that looks a lot like an abstract design, the signing of a new striker?

A New Soccer Order: Directors Over Coaches

This is a trend that is becoming prevalent in top-tier of the game. For decades, teams mistakenly delegated big footballing decisions to low-level employees like managers, talent spotters – players themselves. Perhaps it was once feasible for a young, visionary coach with a philosophy and energy to go into a club and implement their plan through to completion. Yet how many businesses have these guys established? What number of large-scale layoffs have they overseen? Better by far to place genuine authority where it rightly belongs: the executive class, the open-necked shirt brigade, the individuals with the jaw-dropping professional resumes. It is wiser to determine the strategy in the boardroom and appoint a coach who can tailor their methods accordingly. If coaches were once chefs, they are now more like Deliveroo drivers: not really responsible for the food, but still finally accountable should it be delivered cold or fails of the box.

In the meantime, their job is increasingly less about crafting the philosophy and more about selling it: the receptionist on the front desk, the public face of an organisation they can do little to influence. Enzo Maresca leads a team of literal children into Europe and secures two medium-sized trophies, and effectively is dismissed for speaking out. A manager at Celtic sees his standing damaged whereas the people who appointed him continue to make errors indefinitely.

A Modern Corporate Football: Responsibility Only for the Coaches

And perhaps in a small way this is simply corporate governance at work: the elevation of a privileged elite who can never be wrong, whose choices remain sacrosanct, whose mistakes can invariably be sacked away without explanation. Appoint the system coach and then fire them for playing too much 3-4-3. Hire the project manager and later bin him for taking excessive time. And above all be grateful; for your modest season ticket price rises, for the latest player acquisitions, for the fact that the grownups – however well qualified – remain in control.